Summer

We offer multiage drop-in programming for ages 5 and up. Older children and teens are welcome to assist. This summer we are focusing on the interconnected web of life (our seventh Unitarian Universalist principle).  Please come check us out and say hi! Parents can stay with their children or attend the service upstairs. Please click here for more details: Summer Programs: Green Adventures.

Please learn more about our offerings during the school year: Programming for 2012/2013. 

Program Overview

On Sunday mornings we offer nursery care for ages birth through 4, classes for elementary age children, and programming for middle and high school age youth. All of these except the latter are offered at both services. Classes for elementary age children  offer age-appropriate activities and discussions. Usually we have a Kindergarten/first grade class, one class for younger elementary children, and a third for older elementary children. Themes for each year are chosen carefully in order to make sure our children learn the seven principles and six sources that are the foundation of Unitarian Universalism (click here UU Principles and Sources.) Themes for the year follow a three-year rotation to ensure that certain topics concentrated attention:

• Jewish and Christian heritage
  
• faiths traditions of the world
• responsibility for social justice.
  

Youth in ages 6th through 8th can be part of Junior Youth group, which meets at both services on Sunday mornings and has once a month weekend events chosen and planned by members. Those in 8th and 9th in Fall of  2012 are invited to also enroll in Our Whole Lives sexuality education course, which will be offered this year on Sunday afternoons October through March, with dates and times to be announced. On alternate years with OWL, we offer a Coming of Age program, in which youth explore their own spirituality, other faiths, their role at TUUC and in the community. The group prepares a final service and celebration at which they read the faith statements they have written.

Teens in 9th through 12th grade can participate in many ways. They are welcome to join the choir, play music at services, teach or assist in a YRE class, participate in social action, or join Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU), which meets at 11: 15 am on Sunday mornings. This group plans much of its curricula with adult advisors, sponsors and attends overnights with other UU teen groups, participates in social action projects and puts on its own service in late winter, among other activities. Please see Young Religious UUs (high school youth) for more information.

Social Action

One way we put our faith into action is in Social Action Sundays. Elementary-age children join together to work on group projects downstairs with parent helpers and DRE. Projects have included a fund-raiser car wash, making lasagna for Our Daily Bread, and taking parties for families living at a  shelter. All classes are also invited to choose their own social action projects.(Please see Social Action for Youth.)

Mission Statement
To assist our children in:

• joyously and openly exploring life,
• developing inquiring minds,
• awakening conscience and spirit through loving fellowship and by exploring the principles and history of Unitarian/Universalism and its contributions to the world.

Goals

• to develop a sense of belonging with our religious community
• to impart some knowledge of religious beliefs, values, and their impact on human history, including our Jewish-Christian heritage
• to develop an identification with Unitarian Universalism
• to feel guided and supported in the development and expression of one’s own values in everyday life

Leah volunteering  at the Banner Reading Club.